1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a so-called flatbed type recording apparatus, in which a recording unit moves, and performs recording on a recording medium that is positioned on a stage.
2. Related Art
In the related art, a known example of this type of recording apparatus includes a base member, and a flatbed which is disposed on the base member and supports a recording paper (refer to JP-A-2002-2054). This known example further includes an ink head that is disposed to face the flatbed, a carriage on which the ink head is mounted, and a supporting member which supports the carriage to be freely movable in a horizontal direction (i.e., a Y axis direction). The known example further includes a pair of left and right rails which extend in a horizontal X axis direction (perpendicular to the horizontal Y axis direction in the perpendicular plane) on a base member. The known example also includes a pair of left and right movable blocks which are fixed to the supporting member and are capable of moving on the rails. In other words, in this recording apparatus, a linear guide mechanism (such as a pair of rails and a pair of movable blocks) is disposed on the upper surface side of the base member in a manner in which the linear guide mechanism supports the carriage to be freely movable in the X axis direction via the supporting member.
However, in this configuration, since the linear guide mechanism is disposed on the upper surface side of the base member (i.e., on the surface side of the flatbed), the positions of the supporting member and the carriage become higher by an amount of the dimensions of the linear guide mechanism. As a result, there is a problem in that the height dimension (i.e., the dimension in which the ink head and the flatbed face one another) of the entire recording apparatus becomes larger. Furthermore, since the linear guide mechanism is disposed to avoid the placement region in which the recording paper is placed, there is a problem in that a planar dimension (a horizontal dimension perpendicular to the height direction) of the entire recording apparatus become larger by the amount of the dimensions of the linear guide mechanism.
It is also conceivable to dispose the linear guide mechanism on the surfaces on the left and right lateral sides of the base member; however, even in this case, the planar dimensions of the entire recording apparatus become larger by the amount of the dimensions of the linear guide mechanism.